Visiting the world’s vanishing places has become a bit trendy these
days—which makes the venerable Earthwatch Institute an unlikely
tastemaker. Next year the research organization will bring travelers to
what is arguably the most critically endangered site on the planet,
then put them to work. Your lab is the lake-stippled tundra of the
Mackenzie Mountains and the ridges surrounding Churchill, Manitoba,
where permafrost is disappearing first (it’ll likely be gone by 2100)
and temperatures are rising fastest (so far, 2ºF). You’ll stay in one
of two research stations (watch for grizzlies at one, polar bears at
the other), and help Earthwatch researchers monitor the ecosystem.